Waiting For My Ruca
by gayfornay
Summary: There is a thin line between what is fake and what is real.
1. Come What May

Yes, Amy knew she shouldn't be taking advantage of her current situation, but how could she stop herself? Karma _was_ her girlfriend, after all. Who cared if it was all for show, it still counted. Almost.

Her doting girlfriend had actually just texted her, asking Amy to come by her house for the weekend to discuss her latest dilemma. Karma had dodged all of Amy's questions about what was going on, so Amy knew she was going to get more than she bargained for when she offered her help. She assumed it was just another scheme to boost lesbian morale, so she agreed without a second thought. It may have been inappropriate to hope for quality time with her best friend considering her intentions were romantic, but she couldn't resist. She couldn't stop these feelings for Karma. She knew she would have to tell her friend eventually, but until then Amy would take what she could get.

Walking up to the Ashcrofts' front door, Amy let herself in and made her way to Karma's bedroom. She noticed that Karma's parents' juice truck wasn't in the driveway so she didn't bother to stop and say hello to them, walking straight to the bedroom she felt like she hadn't been in in far too long.

As she reached for the doorknob, it was turned from the other side and Karma bounced out of the room, grasping Amy's wrist and pulling her along.

"Well, hello to you to." Amy greeted with a faux smile, giving her friend a confused look as she followed her back outside. "Karm? What are we doing?"

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at me before rolling her eyes, "Amy, I already told you. We have serious work to do today, come on."

Amy was once again tugged along by the shorter girl, opting to take Karma's hand instead of being waded through the streets by her wrist like a small child.

"We have to go to the park. I don't know when my parents are coming back and I can't survive another pro-les pep talk."

Amy smiled in appreciation of Karma's parents and their dedication to making everything awkward for their daughter. "Why don't we just go to my house?"

"Yeah, because the thought of being around your psycho stepsister sounds _so _appealing." Karma keeps walking and rubs her thumb against the back of Amy's hand. "Look, let's just go to the park okay? I need the fresh air. We can even stop and look at the geese like we used to when you were still obsessed with Animal Planet."

Karma shoots Amy a smile and she can't help but go along with the small girl's plan. She's always had that effect on Amy, as if the blonde is unable to deny her. That's how they became girlfriends, after all.

They finish the trek to the park and walk to the benches they used to lay on when they were both small enough to fit against each other comfortably. Karma sits in the nook of the bench, leaning into the side and pulling Amy down against her. She rests her head on the curve of Amy's shoulder, pulling both of their hands into her lap.

"Hey." She offers and looks up to glance at Amy. The taller girl meets her eyes for a brief moment and then can't help but allow her eyes to search Karma's face once she looks away. "So, tell me if I'm freaking you out, but I have a proposition."

Amy's eyebrows pull closer together and she mentally prepares herself for what Karma is about to say. She knows it's going to be something she isn't ready to hear, which is probably why Karma held onto her so tightly, so she wouldn't be able to run away as soon as she got the opportunity. Of course Karma was her best friend; however, her plans had been a little extravagant lately. Amy wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"Taking your silence as a good thing… so, prom is almost right around the corner, and we already have it in the bag, but I think we should work on our," Karma pauses, trying to word her offer as best she can without scaring Amy off, "_technique_."

"Okay, now you've lost me." Amy looks straight ahead, eyeing the geese that had gathered a few yards ahead of them near the small pond. "Technique?"

Karma released a heavy breath and counted to three in her head before putting her statement into blunter terms. "We have to make out."

Amy felt herself getting lightheaded, grasping the bench with the hand Karma wasn't holding onto for dear life. "_What?_"

Karma turned to face her friend on the bench and Amy followed her lead, looking dazed as ever. "Look, we've already accumulated enough buzz at Hester to energize comatose patients. There's a standard that has to be met, Amy!"

"And what standard is that, exactly?" Amy had no idea where any of this was coming from, or what the hell Karma was talking about. She couldn't stop her head from spinning or her mind from swirling with thoughts of being able to kiss Karma whenever she wanted, even in private.

"What are they going to say when we win prom queens and go in for the big winning kiss like two awkward middle schoolers? It has to look _natural_, Amy." Karma gave the other girl a pleading look, softening her features with a defeated expression. "If you don't want to do this with me then we don't have to."

Amy stared at Karma for a long moment, weighing out her options. On one hand, this would confuse her even more. How was she supposed to hide her feelings for Karma when they were going to be even _more _intimate with each other? But on the other hand, maybe she just needed to get these feelings out of her system. Maybe if she kissed Karma enough times, she'd grow tired of it.

"For such a tiny person, you harbor a lot of demands."

Karma beamed at her best friend, squealing with excitement and pulling her into a bone crushing hug. "You are _not _going to regret this, I promise!"

Amy smiled weakly, reciprocating the hug Karma was slowly suffocating her with.

_What the hell did I just get myself into?_


	2. 2 Atoms In A Molecule

"Hey!" Karma greeted, ushering Amy into her bedroom and closing the door behind them. After Amy was prepositioned with Karma's _brilliant _plan, the two had decided to go about their day as they normally would and discuss the details of their objective at a later date. They still had a few weeks until prom and Karma didn't want to push Amy too far too soon.

"Hey, Karma." Amy smiled nervously at her best friend before cautiously sitting on the bed behind her. "So, uh, let's do this thing," she said in what she hoped sounded enthusiastic instead of forced, like how it felt.

Karma smiled at her knowingly, giving her a playful smirk. "Slow down there, tiger. I've made an itinerary so everything takes place accordingly." Ignoring Amy's shocked expression, much like the one she was presented with when she received the dossier, Karma continued. "It's just you and me, hanging out like always. The activities are just a little more PG-13, now." She smiled softly at Amy, sitting next to her on the bed. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to do. It's supposed to be fun, remember?"

Even after Karma had tried to reassure her, Amy still felt lost. She didn't know if she should even be allowed to act this way with the other girl, seeing as she was hiding her true feelings from her. If Karma knew how Amy felt about her, would she still allow this to go on? Would she still have created a fucking _itinerary_? Amy doubted it. But she knew this was what Karma wanted, even though it was for a very different reason than Amy's. She would go along with it until Karma asked her to do otherwise.

"Yeah, I know. Regardless of how weird this all seems, I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else." Her lips curled into a smile and Karma reacted in kind, grinning widely before pulling her into a warm hug.

The smaller girl leaned into Amy's ear, whispering the words she had said before.

"You're not going to regret this."

Amy was still a little unsure about that.

* * *

They spent the afternoon discussing color schemes for prom while Karma's parents made lunch for the two, offering another profound speech about how truly happy they were for their very own Indigo Girls.

The amount of love and adoration Karma's parents had for both of them made Amy feel more grateful than ever. Sure, they weren't aware that their gestures were somewhat unwarranted since the girls were faking it, but the honest acceptance they held for the new couple warmed Amy's heart. It made her wish her own mother showed half as much love as Karma's.

"How do you feel about coral?" Karma prompted, pulling Amy away from her fantasy of a functional family.

"Huh?"

"Coral? The color? Prom dresses?" Karma continued with raised brows. "You're bored." She had a slight pout now, grabbing Amy's hand across the small, knee level dining table. Leaning forward on her Asian dining cushion (which her parents had insisted on buying three sets of, rambling on about the need to be cultured to all areas of the world). "I know dresses aren't your forte, but your feedback is much needed right now."

Amy shook her head slightly and looked at the color palette in front of her before pointing out the colors she thought would complement Karma's skin tone the best. "This one's nice."

The dark haired girl smiled excitedly, checking off the color Amy had chosen with delight. "I liked that one too!" She minimized the array of colors she had opened on her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. "Now all we have to worry about is your dress. We can look later, don't want to bore you to death; I know you can only handle so much girly-ness at a time."

Amy smirked facetiously at her best friend, throwing one of the pretzel sticks she had been snacking on in Karma's direction. "Whatever, that's your department."

Karma laughed lightly, taking in the smile Amy was sporting. Karma always felt so lucky to have someone like Amy to call her own, as a best friend and now as a fake girlfriend. If you asked her, she got the best of both worlds.

"I'm glad we're doing this together." Amy felt her breath catch. "Prom, I mean." And release.

"Yeah, me too." She smiled softly and fidgeted on her cushion. "I'm starving."

"So am I. Wanna see what weird organic aliment we're having tonight?"

Both of them bounced to their feet, Karma holding her hand out to Amy who took it happily. She allowed herself be led into the kitchen and laced her fingers with Karma's.

Amy felt unsure about how she should act in this situation. She knew Karma's parents genuinely didn't mind their relationship, it wouldn't be false to say they even _encouraged _it, but she was walking a very thin line. Karma lucked out; she only had to take on one role. But Amy seemed to have the short end of the stick. She thought she was only pretending to be one thing, too: a lesbian. Now things had changed, though, and she'd realized that she wasn't pretending.

Which led her into the responsibility of pretending to pretend to be a lesbian.

It was like she was constantly under a microscope and every move she made was being analyzed. She feared she was getting too into character and that people would find out she was actually gay. Which was a little ironic, considering that's what they all believed anyway.

The hardest part about dealing with the dilemma she had caught herself in was not being able to talk to Karma about it. If she lost Karma, she'd be losing everything. Who was she without her other half?

"Are you gonna eat that?" Karma mumbled through a mouthful of noodles. Amy felt her heart flutter. She smiled and shook her head before having her bowl of soup snatched away from her placemat.

She sipped from her glass of water gingerly and listened to the quiet conversation being made around the table.

"Amy? How have things been down by your side of the river?" Mrs. Ashcroft asked sweetly, a proud smile on her face. The woman had such a bright energy about her.

Amy shrugged halfheartedly. "You know Farrah, always trying to fix things that aren't broken."

All other members of the table frowned in unison and Amy realized just how similar they all looked, how many traits Karma acquired from her parents: the sad crease in her forehead, the curve of her lips, the expression in her eyes. She felt a cool hand reach for hers under the small table and let their fingers intertwine graciously.

"She does tend to be a little…" Mrs. Ashcroft looked to her husband, giving him the look Amy had seen frequently throughout the years that prompted him to finish her sentence. She hoped to have something that strong one day, something as powerful as a look that someone could so easily decipher to figure out what she wanted. She yearned for something so concrete and unique. She saw _the look _as a trademark of true love. Seeing it in action made her wonder if she already had something resembling the exchange with a love of her own.

"Imperious." Mr. Ashcroft answered in kind, nodding towards Amy with an understanding smile.

"Imperious, yes." Mrs. Ashcroft said with her index finger raised as if she was having an aha! moment. "She does have imperious tendencies, but you can't let that deter you, dear." She gave Amy a warm smile, reaching across the tiny table to squeeze the slim girl's arm. "You two are battle warriors fighting for the greater good."

Karma let out a sigh only audible enough to catch Amy's attention and smiled politely at her parents. "Well, thanks for the soup, Dad. Great speech, mom. This soldier and I are gonna go protect the fortress now." Karma said hurriedly, gathering both of their dishes with one hand and pulling Amy along with her other.

Amy laughed at the pattern of obedience she was constantly exhibiting when it came to Karma. It seemed like she couldn't go anywhere unless Karma was directing her. When she thought about it, she couldn't remember a time when the roles were reversed. She may be small, but Karma packed a punch and she had no problem taking charge. Amy loved that about her.

"What?" Karma asked with a small smile on her face after she sat down on her side of the bed, patting the open side as an invitation for her faux-girlfriend to join her.

Amy took the spot, naturally allowing her body to nestle its way against Karma's. "Nothing." She toyed with Karma's fingers and looked around the room, reminiscing. "I wanna watch a movie."

Karma looked at the girl laying against her lovingly, taking advantage of their angle because of how easily she could admire Amy's beauty without the other girl noticing. "Lucky for you, that's next on the itinerary. What are you in the mood for, sugarbear?" She questioned, awaiting Amy's annoyed reaction. She wasn't disappointed, as Amy responded by pulling the pillow from behind Karma's head and pulling her arm back before slamming her with it.

"I told you not to call me that!" Amy cried out in mock anger, dodging the pillow Karma threw back at her.

The room boomed with both girls' laughter as they continued to jab and strike each other with hands and pillows. In an attempt to hinder Amy's movements, Karma straddled her lap and grabbed at the air until she successfully caught both of Amy's wrists in her hands. Both girls panted heavily as they tried to catch their breath and Karma sported a victorious smirk as Amy stopped trying to free her arms from the teeny girl on top of her. They both stared at each other gaily as their breathing slowed, smiling at the exhaustion on either of their faces.

"Was that on the itinerary, too?" Amy asked cheekily. Karma's expression remained the same, her smile never leaving her face.

"Not exactly, but I'm open to revisions." She huffed out a breath in a laughing matter and Amy reciprocated the action. "Sorry." Karma's smile softened and she her way off of Amy's midriff.

Trying in vain to hide her disappointment, Amy mumbled out an "it's okay," before looking to the laptop that was already opened to Netflix.

_This is going to be a long night._

* * *

Thank you all for the attention this story has already received! The next chapter should continue right from this point, so stay tuned.

On another note, feel free to leave any feedback, constructive or otherwise. As far as canon goes, I'm not sure if I'm going to incorporate the Liam/Karma romance because it feels unnecessary at this point, but his character may or may not make a few appearances in the future.


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